Autonomy In Counselling

Autonomy
Respecting a clients autonomy is key in most counselling approaches. The very ethics of autonomy suggest a client should be granted the right to self-government and have freedom of choice. However the greatest requirement is “respecting the client’s own sense of what will be helpful to them.” (Bond, 2010, p.79; pp.82-83.) However, if the client is a young person of sixteen, have they got the capacity to understand the consequences of receiving a confidential service and the choices relating to the issues under consideration? The counsellor may have the dilemma of deciding what is in this client’s best interest. When a sixteen year old presents with a history of physical abuse their autonomy can be undermined “when the counsellor

One problem most central to advancing our psychological understanding of the experience of intimacy has been in defining or circumscribing the phenomenon itself. While much has been written on the topic of intimacy in a variety of contexts by both academic and ‘popular’ authors, paradoxically, there exists less research (and even less concurrence) on essential matters such as the definition of intimacy (Register and Henley, 1992; 9: 467-48). “However, in the literature, many researchers (Berscheid, 1985; Hatfield & Rapson, 1993; Levine, 1991) have concurred that there are four main components of intimacy: love and affection, personal validation, trust and self-disclosure,” (Hook, Misty, Gerstein, et al .2003) which are enshrined in Rogers core conditions of empathy, respect and genuineness (Rogers, 1957). If these components are absent in a relationship, intimacy may not occur. “When people are aware that they are loved and liked, the risks associated with self-expression decrease, and they become more willing to open up and share their ideas and feelings. They know that people who show them love and affection will be much more receptive to their feelings and ideas than are people who do not care for them. Therefore, they rarely, if ever, confide in people who appear unconcerned or indifferent to them.” (Mental health HCE,